Al Gore on Corporations

2000 Democratic Nominee for President; Former Vice President

OpEd: The world's first "carbon billionaire"

You don't need to feel sorry for Al Gore. Just as cap and trade was about to collapse, the NY Times reported in 2009, "Critics say Gore is poised to become the world's 1st 'carbon billionaire,' profiteering from government policies he supports that would
direct billions of dollars to the business ventures he has invested in."

Even without cap and trade, Gore had serious money-making potential from green government policies. A 2010 article was entitled, "Climate Profiteers: For Gore & Co., Green Is
Gold", and said: "Only a small part of Gore's investment portfolio is tied to cap and trade. Most of the companies in which he invests would benefit from other parts of the Democrats' energy bill--the parts that would be much easier for Congress to pass.
Congress has been subsidizing green programs for decades."

Gore has "invested millions in a broad array of environmentally friendly energy and technology business ventures, like carbon trading markets, solar cells, and waterless urinals."

Bush supporters oppose regulations but like big contracts

Bush has pursued policies designed to benefit friends and supporters; and, in turn, these supporters have benefited the president with enormous contributions. [Bush’s financial supporters’] ideology--which they and Bush believe with almost religious
fervor--is based on several key elements:

There is no such thing as “public interest”; that phrase represents a dangerous fiction created as an excuse to impose unfair burdens on the wealthy and powerful.

Laws and regulations are also bad--
except when they can be used on behalf of this group, which turns out to be often. They worry about the impact of government policy on the behavior of poor people and work incentives--opposing the minimum wage; the 40-hour workweek; job safety laws;
consumer protection.

Their one central doctrine: government is very bad and should be done away with as much as possible--except the parts that redirect money through big contracts to industries that have won their way into the inner circle.

Commerce wounds nature that can no longer heal itself

Our over-scheduled, over-populated, hyper-stimulated existence is designed to monopolize our attention, to sell us things, to speed us from one place to another.

Nature, by contrast, is slow-moving, undemanding, maybe underwhelming for many people.
But if you never put yourself in the midst of nature--to understand that its essence is our essence--then you’re inclined to treat it as trivial. You become willing to abuse and destroy it through carelessness, not recognizing that to do so is wrong.

We’ve come to accept that if nature can yield something of value to the lucrative engines of commerce, then we should grab it and rip it out, never thinking twice about the wounds left behind. According to this way of thinking, if exploitation results
in injury to the environment, so be it: nature will always heal itself. But the magnitude of environmental destruction is now on a scale few ever foresaw; the wounds no longer simply heal themselves. We have to act affirmatively to stop the harm.

Corporations should match donations to faith-based orgs

We should encourage more private support for faith-based organizations. Employees commonly have their charitable contributions matched by their company. But rarely are faith-based programs approved for such matches. I call on the corporations of America
to encourage and match contributions to faith- and values-based organizations. For too long, faith-based organizations have wrought miracles on a shoestring. With the steps I’m proposing today, they will no longer need to depend on faith alone.